Richard Rico: Hop-surfing: awesome

FIVE DAYS a week, Solano Superior Court Judge David Power wears a robe, in black; it's a rule of law. When he takes a needed break, he wears a wet suit, in black; it's a code of surfing. At 63, Judge Power has been on Solano's bench since 1990, and on a surfboard since 2010. He's the senior sitting judge. But as a surfer, he's a rookie, Power admits. What's more, his wife, Barbara, rides the waves around Pacifica and Santa Cruz right next to him.

"I got tired of watching Dave from the beach, so I took lessons too," she says.

Pacifica is next door to Mavericks, the awesome, fomenting maelstrom that has undone many a world-class surfer. The Powers don't go there. "When you start something like this in later years, there are inherent limitations," Power said in his judicial vernacular. "To me, success is being able to stand up on the board." A lifelong Vacan, Power is a 1967 Vaca High grad, where he excelled in wrestling. But "surfing is something I've always wanted to do," he says. Say it enough and it happens; on his 60th birthday, Barbara gifted him lessons. "It's relaxing and something we can do together." And speaking of vernacular, to a surfing judge, "hanging ten" has a whole other meaning. Awesome.

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UP THERE with major holidays -- you know, your birthday, my birthday -- there's the day when the important fruit/veggie stands in our world are finally open, and the "Apricots" sale sign goes up on the Brazelton fence on Pleasants Valley Rd. Jean is sharing Gene's fruit, as promised.

It's as close as we get to a cult. Early birds could hardly wait for Aliki Poulou to lower the rope on her "Aliki's Finest" stand on Orchard Ave. Her heirlooms are sweeter -- the fact she gifted me a few one-pounders helped. "These are for you. I grew them myself!" she said with Greek passion. I know. Not only am I a member of the tomato cult, I'm an Aliki believer.

LATER, I mustered my courage to visit Larry's Produce in Rockville on opening day. I knew it would be busy. I was wrong, it was madness. A half-hour before opening, the parking lot was full. Inside, major wheelbarrow gridlock. Focused shoppers clustered around a field bin of fresh corn, like blackbirds pecking to get the best.

I watched with owner Larry Balestra as the checkout queue trailed through the barn and into the tomato fields beyond.

Larry created the culture 27 years ago, he told me. His stand never sleeps, and neither does he. Larry is one of the hardest-working guys on the planet. Any idea how many customers pass through here in a day? I asked. "I don't know; what do you think?" In waves of 500, more than 10,000 a day, I guessed. If I'm close, that's a helluva lot of eggplant -- and yellow bell peppers that could pass for NFL game balls.

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WHAT Basic Vegetable Co. onions and garlic did for Vacaville back in the day, Rich Collins' California Endive Farms is doing for Rio Vista. Endive: Tender, leafy torpedoes grown from chicory root -- in the dark. Collins and his wife, Shelly, harvested their first crop on Thanksgiving, 1983. Last year, they shipped 4-million pounds.

Ever restless to do more, Collins created a country farm products center near I-80, off the Kidwell exit. For now he calls it Collins Farm, but he dreams of the day when it grows to Bridgeway Farms. It is open Sundays, 11-6, selling Shelly's pies and jams made from ranch blackberries.

Yes, there's more. Collins has signed a land lease with Jan-Erik Paino, CEO of Ruhstaller Brewery in Sacto, for growing hops on a 2-acre plot. Paino has restarted the brewery begun in 1881by Capt. Frank Ruhstaller. The towering trellises (Paino calls them his "high-wire act") were once a common sight in the Sloughhouse area of Sacramento. Not so much anymore. Paino is bringing hops back, "because to make a good beer you need the best local products," he told me. Jan-Erik is a hops evangelist with a relentless passion. One of his first hop farms was Sean McNamara's Blue Heron Hop Yard in Winters. He is the son of farmer Craig McNamara who conceived the California Center for Land-Based Learning. Paino invited me to the hop harvest on Collins' Farm in August.

Fine, but where do we buy Ruhstaller? At Nugget. I bought two bottles. Gilt Edge Lager is great with endive, and just about everything else. That includes surfing.